Key Elements for a Bigger Bench Press
 by: Michael Francis

Proper positioning on a weight bench to maximize leverage

• Keep the bar in line with the eyes; if you are too far towards the top of the bench it puts your shoulders in a weak position and wastes energy, and creates unsteadiness when lifting off.
• Firm foot contact with the floor close to the bench is Paramount! Feet on the bench, straight legs with feet lightly touching the floor is a recipe for failure; it decreases force and puts you out of balance. Feet planted firmly on the floor and push from that foundation to blow through sticking points. When your feet are close to the bench, it's easier to keep the arch in your back.
• Keep a solid foundation by retracting your shoulder blades and powerfully push yourself through the bench. Keep the chest the highest point with the back slightly arched and shoulder blades retracted, stay tight in the midsection; this will keep your back securely in contact with the bench and create the stability needed for heavy benching. Keeping the chest with a slight arch in the lower back will decrease the distance the bar has to travel.

A word about grip strength

You will notice most Big Benchers have huge forearms; that is because grip strength is a huge factor in controlling the bar. Wrap your thumbs around the bar and squeeze hard as if you squeeze right through the bar.

Grip the bar low in the palm towards the heel of your hand and lock your wrists straight to create leverage! If you correct the frequent mistake of holding the bar near the base of your fingers causing a backward bend in your wrist you will notice an immediate increase in your max bench due to the improved leverage and increase in sending the force of the chest, deltoids, triceps bicep tendon… straight through to the bar

Use the width of your grip to exploit your strengths!

Sticking Points result from weakness in secondary muscle groups. Where the bar stalls will pinpoint the weak muscle.

• Mid point = weak pecs and/or triceps
• Bottom = weak front deltoids
• Lock out = triceps.
• Use a wide grip if you have strong pecs and are weak in deltoids and triceps

Choose the grip width and elbow placement based on your body

• Long arms use a wide grip to shorten the path of the bar (elbows out)
• Short arms use a closer grip (elbows in more)

Employ your strengths

• Strong triceps? use a closer grip and elbows close to your body
• Weak in the Delts? use a close grip keeping elbows wide

Strengthen assistance muscles and eliminate weak points!

A Big Bench = Powerful Deltoids, Lats, Triceps, Forearms and Bicep Tendons.

Work with heavy weights on these groups and your bench will improve, (especially go heavy on triceps!)

Use rows to exercises the lats think of barbell rows as a reverse bench press this trains the back in the same plane as the bench press.

Lifting Form = Physics. The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line!

• If you have shoulder pain, (like I do), keep your elbows and arms at a 90° angle and lower the bar a bit below the nipples to increase leverage, recruit more of the assistance muscles mentioned above and prevent external arm rotation which is hard on shoulder joints.
• Lift right away once the bar is above your chest, it’s a little late to get “geared up” so don’t just hold the bar over your chest, get on with it!
• You are stronger on the eccentric, (negative), so slow down and lower under control
• Pause at the bottom to prevent momentum, this is important on working any muscle for hypertrophy. Quick movements are better suited to certain sport specific training.
• Press straight up unless it feels causes shoulder pain or feels too abnormal
• Again for most people developing tricep strength will help form the most so train them heavy!
• Breath in deep on the eccentric stage hold your breath during the initiation of the concentric phase
• Push as hard as you can through a full range of motion

Between set resting

The one minute rest won’t get it on a heavy bench day 2 to 3 minutes is more like it, many advanced lifters adhere to a 5 minute rest between heavy sets.

Initially strength is determined by your nervous system and connective tissue integrity

• 80% of initial strength increase is determined by nervous system motor unit recruitment. A motor unit is a nerve and all the muscle fibers innervated. Heavy tension is required for the recruitment of high threshold motor units- these are fast twitch which tend to grow, (increase in mitochondria and supporting cytoplasm). Slow twitch become more metabolically efficient. If the impulse from the nerve is too weak you’re muscles are weak the more motor units recruited have more muscle innervations and strength increases. Once that nerve fires once in the movement it will fire every time; this is called the all or none principle.

When a motor unit is sufficiently activated once the entire pool of fibers contract. The central nervous system can increase the strength of muscle contraction by:

• Increasing the number of active motor units (i.e., spatial recruitment)
• Increasing the firing rate at which individual motor units fire to optimize the summated tension generated (i.e., temporal recruitment)
• Both occur concurrently

Heavy Benching is very taxing on the nervous system overtraining is a common mistake as trainees don’t take into account nervous system recovery!

Mindset

Benching near your max has as much to do with your mind as it does with strength and technique weight mentally, you need to believe, (even picture yourself), or it will not happen

• Sometimes little rituals before the lift are a good idea to clear your thoughts and put you in the mindset, you've seen this with field goal kickers and other sports that are primarily mental; these are called “anchors”. Develop a simple action, (anchor) such as: clapping, stomping, or something as simple as deeply breathing a given number of times. It should be an uncomplicated movement that you don’t normally do.
• It is common for lifters to hit sticking points at times when they add another 45 lb plate (i.e. 225, 315, 405…); this is obviously a mental barrier not physical. When training people I would have them go from say 215 to 230 to avoid this (but that is just a band aid for mental barriers!).
• Focus and maintain your concentration and be only selectively aware of your surroundings.
• You must picture in your mind doing and believing you will make the lift, a grain of doubt will = an avalanche of failure, a valuable lesson successful lifters learn early.

Apply these techniques and get the proper equipment and I guarantee serious results and a bigger bench!

Look for future articles from FitnessScape with information and tools to light the way to achieving your fitness goals.

Dietetic Decisions May Impact the Sex of Your Child
 by: Elaine W Clegg

Though there are various different things that can decide the gender of your future child, the nutritional selections you make may have a huge impact. Natural gender choice depends on a couple of different systems to help increase the chances of having either a boy or a girl. As you recognize, nothing in life is 100% sure but nearly all couples that go along these natural techniques end up with the gender they hoped for. At the end of the day, it is a 50/50 probability, but there are a few things you can do to swing the percentage in your favor.

The foods that you consume can affect the future sex of your kid for a range of different explanations. One of the focal reasons is that your body's PH desires to be at a certain stage for each a daughter or a boy. The sperm that carry the chromosomes that determine gender require a different PH for a triumphant expedition towards fertilization. I will tell you the variations of sperm in order to give a superior knowledge how PH ranges can affect baby sex.

To start with, the sperm responsible for conceiving a son hold the Y chromosome. They are small, swift and must connect with their destination hastily before they expire. They require an alkaline surroundings to get through to the egg properly.The sperm responsible for conceiving a daughter carry the X chromosome. They are much bigger, more durable and though they may take more time to make contact with an egg, they have a greater probability of living long enough to do so. They do well in an acidic environment.

So despite the fact that you can see yourself, choosing your eating habits wisely may indeed have an influence on your child's gender. Let's take a look at what meals are essential to include in your eating habits for each gender.

Boy Diet

Enrich your diet regime with potassium and sodium if you wish for a boy. They are non acidic by nature and will raise your alkalinity. The recommended foods include bananas, sweet corn, red meats, and even sausages. It is crucial however that you eat these foods in moderation and include a healthy and balanced diet program for good health. Having too much sodium is in no way suggested. Stay inside appropriate dietary rules at all times.

Eating for a Girl

If your desire is baby girl, you should focus on foods that add acidity in your body. Focus on foods that are rich in magnesium and calcium. Broccoli is the perfect example of a food that contains high stages of both. Other meals you can consume take in grapefruit, apples, dairy products, some fish (farm raised to steer clear of high levels of mercury) and leafy green vegetables.

What to Remember

Everything in moderation is key whereas well though suitable nutrition. Though there are other approaches of selecting your kid's sex naturally, combining them with a accurate eating routine will boost your likelihood for success. Ask your doctor if you have any questions in relation to the foods that you should be eating.  

Healthy Aspects of Venison
 by: Jim Nelson

Deer hunting season is more than a time for avid hunters to enjoy a fun and challenging outdoor activity; it is more than a time for hunters to fill their freezers with fresh caught meat; it is a time for people to change their diet to a healthy beef alternative – venison.

Venison has healthy dietary implications…

Venison is an excellent source of protein that is low in fat. A recent study that appeared in the journal Nutrition and Dietetics (Volume 65 Issue 4), researchers set out to determine how an individual’s fat burning process reacts to a high protein meal. It was determined that increasing your dietary protein can help jump start your fat burning when you are in a fat burning lull.

A small 4 ounce steak of venison supplies 68.5 percent of your daily required protein. Not only does venison have high protein content but it also has low saturated fat content (only 1.4 grams) and is low in cholesterol.

An interesting fact to note is that venison also has less cholesterol than chicken and turkey. Looking for a food high in iron, look no further, venison provides 28 percent of iron in a serving size. This meat is full of other important nutrients, minerals and vitamins such as phosphorous, selenium and vitamin B12. Best of all a four ounce serving size only adds 180 calories to your diet.

Venison boosts a healthy state economy…

In Michigan according to Jordan Pusateri Burroughs a wildlife outreach specialist in the Michigan State University (MSU) Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, deer hunters harvest 450,000 deer annually. Burroughs says that “Total retail spending by deer hunters contributes more than $700 million annually to the state’s economy, and the deer hunting industry all total, accounts for almost 12,000 jobs.” Hunters also contribute millions to state and local tax revenue.

Venison can boost the health of your personal and community economy.

In trying economic times, when most families are struggling to afford meat to put on the table, a seasoned deer hunter can bag enough deer meat to supply his family and even have enough spare portions to share with friends and neighbors. Venison is a perfect high quality meat substitute.

Deer hunters stay in local hotels and eat at local restaurants giving local economies a boost. Some communities even have programs where they will process your deer meat for free if you donate your excess deer meat to local food banks.

Venison is great for a greener healthier planet. Deer live naturally in the wild and according to environmentalists this leads to healthier and happier deer. Using “green” buzzwords like free-range, grass feed, organic and locally harvested; eating locally hunted venison provides a boost to the green movement to save our planet.

Since deer is not farm raised, do not expect to find steroids or antibiotics in the meat. These chemicals enter into the population that eats the meat leading to a population afflicted with negative health effects. It is good to know that venison is a chemical-free meat.  

Free Soul Food Recipe Sites Appealing More To Health ConsciousConsumers

Author: Roy Primm

Free soul food recipe websites are slowly appealing to a youngercrowd. This new market is not only younger but more healthconscious than traditional southern food lovers of the past. Theyounger crowd loves the taste and satisfaction of traditionalsouthern dishes, but without the heavy feeling afterwards. Thisresults from the heavy ingredients and often the cooking oilscontained in traditional soul food recipes.To adapt to the taste and demands of younger consumers morerecipe publishers, dining establishments and manufacturers arecooking lighter. For example, many now include lighteringredients in their menus and recipes. For example, most havechange from cooking with animal fats to peanut, olive, andsesame oils. Less red meat and pork dishes are served in soulfood restaurants and more chicken, turkey and cold water fishsuch as salmon, cod and haddock have been added to the menu.To flavor the dishes, healthier and lighter sauces is offeredalong with natural herbs and spices. Most free soul food recipewebsites, cookbooks and restaurants continue to phase outtraditional flavorings such as ham hocks, fatback and bacondrippings. These seasonings don't have the same appeal to theyounger health conscious consumer as it does to the older crowd.These changes continue to help bring back many older consumersas well, those who had to avoid eating soul food cooking forhealth reasons. Much of the traditional southern cookingcontained high amounts of sodium, calories and fat. This oftencaused high blood pressure, obesity and other health ailments.Now that more soul food recipes have included the desires anddemands of the health conscious crowd, the southern cuisinecontinues to experience a strong comeback. New phrases have evenemerged to describe this new movement and have spawned a wholenew market. Healthy soul food has come to describe southerncuisine with healthy ingredients, cooking methods or even rawfood dining. For example, you'll find more green vegetables, rawfruits and bean dishes included in the menus than ever before.Of course you'll also find all natural herbs and spices as wellas citrus marinades to add flavor to chicken, fish or otherlight and lean meats.Vegetarian soul food is also a new kid on the block that'sappealing to the young, hip (and young at heart) and healthconscious crowd. These meat-less southern inspired dishescontinues to win new fans, the evidence is the large numbers ofbooks published and new restaurant openings. There's even talkof many of these restaurants planning to franchise in the nearfuture.About the author:See The Top 20 Soul Food Recipes Voted By Readers Go To ... http://blackhomeownernews.com/soulfoodrecipes.html">FreeSoul Food Recipes

The Top Four Favourite Soups

Author: Steve Hill

I was listening, with interest, to a well known radio program
last night as they were debating the nations favourite soups –
yes I am rather pathetic and yes I do need to get a life! The
presenter of the show invited members of the public to
telephone, text and e-mail into the program as they conducted a
mini survey of people’s preferred soup! I was tempted to phone
in myself but for whatever reason decided against it.

It was actually a really interesting program to listen to and I
was quite surprised at the amount of people that did phone into
the show. In reality all of the people could well have been the
friends and family of the presenter himself but I would hope not.

You may not be surprised when you hear that chicken soup was
voted as the overall winner or nations favourite. Chicken soup
happens to be my favourite as well; I eat a bowl at least twice
a week!

In second place came tomato soup. Apparently there was not a lot
between these first two, only about five percent of the votes. I
am not sure what it is about tomato soup but I just don’t rate
it. I can eat a few spoonfuls but then the taste just seems to
bore me.

Oxtail soup came in a surprisingly impressive third place and in
fourth place came vegetable soup.

So what was the point of this article and the radio show of last
night? Well at the end of the day it is just a bit of fun and
something to potentially spark a debate between friends and
colleagues.

About the author:
Steve Hill is a webmaster from Birmingham; he has interests in a
number of websites including: stuttering
therapy web promotion UK increase
confidence

Simple Soup Maker's Kitchen

Author: Cary Ellis

Let's solve this mystery once and for all. Don't let those
gourmets fool you. It really doesn't take a lot of fancy
cookware or specialty items to make soup. In fact soup is ideal
everyday fare, simple to make, and accessible to ANY budget.
Have you ever heard of Stone Soup? It's a wonderful story that
tells how simple soup really is. In fact soup evolved as a
catch-all for leftover bits of this and that. Now you can get
pretty fancy if you want to with soup - but we're going to stick
to the simple stuff here - everyday fare for everyday folks.

Pots and Pans You could get away with just one good sized soup
pot (6-8 quart). Of course stainless steel is best or even cast
iron will do. You want to stay away from pans containing
aluminum or teflon as they've been associated with the
development of Alzheimers and other brain disorders. I'd say the
full extent of pots I use for soup includes a small pot (2
quart) for quick noodle soups or a roux, a medium pot 4 1/2
quart, and a large pot 6 quart - depending on who's coming to
dinner, how much my ingredients will swell, and if I'm cooking
for a week or a day; a skillet for sautéing (but you could do it
right in the pot and keep all the yummy flavors in one place).

A crock pot is great to have for those long winter days if you
have to go to work or go ski or "board the rad pow", and want to
have a pot of soup when you get home. I've broken crock pots and
readily picked up a new one at the thrift store! So budget
shouldn't be a limiting factor here...after all, it's reuse
before recycle, right?

Cutting Gear Have you ever noticed, you can have a drawer full
of knives, but you always grab that favorite one? All the years
I've been food preparing and cooking (and it's been many) I
still have my favorite knife that has gone with me everywhere.
You need something good to cut veggies without it being too much
work. It may be a paring knife for you or something bigger. Just
always be very careful and use a knife you're comfortable with.
I have one paring knife I like, on medium serrated, and a large
that I adore (family heirloom) that I always have to watch my
fingers with and pay attention, but I love how it cuts up my
veggies for soup and salads.

Bottom line - use a knife you like, sharpen now and then, pay
close attention when cutting!

Refrigerator - Produce We are so lucky to have refrigeration,
provides many options for keeping and enjoying a wide variety of
produce. The baseline of my soups always begin with the many
varieties of onions, potatoes, garlic, ginger and carrots. Some
of these may not need to be refrigerated based on your climate
and home temperature. See how they are stored at the market and
do something similar.

Among the greens I always bring home cilantro, parsley and
spinach; I love having them in something every day. Beyond these
basics you can get into the fancier veggies such as mushrooms,
kale, collards, squash, cabbages (several kinds), tomatoes,
parsnips, turnips, beets...and more...

Pantry - Grains, Beans, Pasta, Herbs, Oil, Spices In your pantry
keep a supply of the Super Immunity herbs and spices you like
best. I order mine by the pound through my local co-op - you'll
have to figure out your best resources and use those. Most
health food stores have a good bulk herb and spices section
(fresher and better on cost/environment than small jars).

Get yourself a supply of beans and grains you like. Rice, quinoa
and amaranth are some of my favorite grains to add to soup. I've
found most dry beans even at the supermarket will sprout when
soaked, so you can use those, or go to the natural food store
and get organic (better for you and the Earth). Lentils, black
beans (same benefits as red wine), and pintos are some of our
favorites around here; we always soak at least 12 hours to start
the sprouting process, drain the water (important), then add
fresh water and cook 6-8 hrs to make a great soup, with greatly
reduced digestive stress.

Keep some noodles in your pantry - rice noodles are a nice way
to stay away from wheat which many people are allergic to
(because there's so much of it in our culture). But find
whatever you like among the smaller sized pastas, and keep them
around for quick soups. Even the ramen packets without msg, can
be used as a base and add fresh veggies, for healthy 'fast
food'.

Olive oil and natural soy sauce will get you started on a good
soup base and you can expand your seasonings from there as you
learn about additional ingredients such as miso and Umeboshi
plum vinegar.

Well, if you start out by stocking your kitchen as described
above, you'll be well-prepared to make yourself quite a few pots
of soup. Now take action, keep learning, discover what you like,
and feed yourself and those you love in a way that protects
their health and immunity.

About the author:
Cary Ellis, healthy diet and lifestyle expert is author of
“Vegan/Vegetarian Super Immunity™ Soup Recipes”. Follow regular
health tips at her healthy
diet blog and find her free soup recipes and videos at her
healthy lifestyle site

Learn to cook a Restaurant Standard Soup. It is very easy to

Author: sarah

Here are some important tips that might help you to cook thebest soup with any soup recipes. 1). To make soup 1-2 days in advance to blend the flavour. 2).Reserve the vegetable cooking water and to be used in place ofplain water to get the better soup flavour. 3). Shin, marrow,neck and oxtail bones are best for stock flavoring. 4). Vealknuckles are best for making jellied stocks. 5). Add morebouillon cubes or powder as strengthener if you prefer a strong& thicker soul. 6). Cool soup uncovered as quickly as possibleby placing pot in a sink of iced water. 7). Cold soups dull thetastebuds and normally required more seasonings than hot soup.Taste and adjust before serving. 8). Use lesser salt If usingbeer or wine in the soup 9). If wine to be added to soup, itshall be add shortly before serve but not to let it boil for toolong. 10). Excess wine will make soup bitter. 1/4-1/3 cup perquart is plenty. 11). While reducing or boiling down a soupstock, do not add salt until the end. 12). If you don't like thesoup to be too salty, add half a peeled raw potato and simmerfor about 15 minutes. The potato will absorb excess salt.Discard potato after reach your desired taste. 13). If your souprequires a thickening agent, you can sprinkle some flour on topof your vegetables/meat mixture. For every tablespoon of fat youalready added, add an equivalent 1 tablespoon of flour. Sautefor a few minutes. 14). 1 teaspoon of sugar or light brown sugarwill mellow the acidity of tomato soup. 15). You can thickeningthe cream of vegetable soup by pureeing some of the vegetableswith a bit of the liquid. 16). Add your liquid to your pot suchas broth/water + bullion cubes or canned tomatoes (if yourrecipe requires some cream we prefer to add that later). If youare planning to blend your soup, it might be a good idea to beslightly conservative with the amount of liquid you add.Remember, it's always easier to add additional liquid then it isto take away. Let your soup simmer long enough to soften all theingredients. 17). Add herbs at the end to preserve the mostflavor. 18). Generally, 1 quart of soup = 6 first coarseservings or 3-4 main course serving. 19). Use soup tureen whileserving soup as main course to lend elegance to the table andkeep hot for seconds. 20). Match a light-flavored soup to a richor spicy main dish and vice versa.For further understanding, you can visit my soup recipes websiteat http://www.soup-master.com/ About the author:I have create a Soup Recipes website to share with soup lovers. Most soups are constructed in similar ways using the sametechnique. Once you've mastered this step process, it's easy toexperiment and try different kinds of soup.